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  • Country ranking ?

    1
  • Producer ranking ?

    1
  • Decanting time

    5h
  • When to drink

    from 2025
  • Food Pairing

    Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese

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BWW2020: After 3 million votes - The most voted wine is Penfolds Grange 2015

The voting for the BWW2020 - Best Wine of the World competition is over - a staggering, just over 3 million votes, were cast in the BWW 2020 competition and Grange 2015 was the most voted wines from all the 20.675 voted wines!

Tastingbook congratulates all those who received the most votes - a serious opinion and recognition expressed through the votes of just over 190,000 wine professionals.

 

 

Tasted by Peter Gago:

Color 
Opaque, a dark core with a lighter deep red concession on rim

Nose
An eruption of fruits. At once lively and expressive, conceding Grange personality yet still not revealing all ....
Dark coffee grind, malt and tapenade merge with black earths, almost verging on peat.
Mandated V.A and formic notes propel a slurry of dark-skinned berried fruits, flirting with dark liquorice and soy.
Oak completely hidden, long since absorbed. Now, back to the glass for a second sniff!

Palate
Initially the ‘enlivened’ dark fruits of a Christmas pudding or boiled fruitcake mix demand attention. But there’s much more to complement these fruits – impressions of ironstone, graphite, iodine, black ink, and a black pudding viscosity.
Formidable, meshed tannins – texturally honeycombed, without the honey!
Oak has entwined itself invisible. Yes, every barrel still new, and completion of fermentation off skins in barrel still Grange modus operandi.
Integrated, measured ... and clearly more than one sip required to gain an authentic ‘first-impression’.

Certainly a wine of its vintage. A Grange of 2015.

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The Story

Grange is arguably Australia’s most celebrated wine and is officially listed as a Heritage Icon of South Australia. Grange boasts an unbroken line of vintages from the experimental 1951 and clearly demonstrates the synergy between Shiraz and the soils and climates of South Australia. Grange utilises fully-ripe, intensely-flavoured and textured Shiraz grapes. The result is a unique Australian style that is now recognised as one of the most consistent of the world’s great wines. The Grange style is the original and most powerful expression of Penfolds multi-vineyard, multi-district, blending philosophy.

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Wine Information

Across South Australia’s premium growing regions, winter and early spring rainfall were close to the long-term average. From August, conditions became significantly drier with only a few light spring showers recorded. Record low rainfall was recorded from September to March stretching water supplies. 

Warm and dry conditions encouraged early flowering and fruit-set, with rapid canopy growth. Early summer temperatures dropped below average with no major heat waves recorded. 

Once harvest commenced, it progressed rapidly with most blocks of shiraz picked earlier than previous years. Although the prevailing conditions resulted in lower than anticipated yields, the quality of fruit was exceptional. 

A strong Penfolds vintage.

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Vintage 2015

Across South Australia’s premium growing regions, winter and early spring rainfall were close to the long-term average. From August, conditions became significantly drier with only a few
light spring showers recorded. Record low rainfall was recorded from September to March stretching water supplies. Warm and dry conditions encouraged early flowering and fruit-set, with rapid canopy growth. Early summer temperatures dropped

below average with no major heat waves recorded. Once harvest commenced, it progressed rapidly with most blocks of shiraz picked earlier than previous years. Although the prevailing conditions resulted in lower than anticipated yields, the quality of fruit was exceptional. A strong Penfolds vintage.

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

28 tasting notes

Tasting note

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Written Notes

2015 Grange ($900) - Australia's most famous wine. 2015 was a good vintage,
but perhaps not a stellar one. That doesn't always mean that Grange will
reflect that - consider how good 2013 was. 98% Shiraz, 2% Cabernet from the
Barossa, McLaren Vale, Clare Valley and Magill Estate. 20 months in new
American hogsheads, as is traditional.

Opaque red. Immediate notes of Madagascan vanilla pods, fine dark chocolate,
splintery oak (undoubtedly well integrated, it is young and one can
reasonably expect that to slowly dissipate over time), blueberry pie, a hint
of axle grease, coffee beans, blackfruits, a hint of cold tea, cherries. It
is complex, with fabulous aromas, seamless and supple, finely balanced and
very, very long. A cracking Grange.

That said, and while it surely has a glorious future awaiting (another look
recently at the wine from magnum confirms this), it is perhaps the 'least
ready to drink on release' of recent Granges. Nothing wrong with that. A
very fine addition to the line-up. 98.

  • 98p

Bang. The first whiff cries Grange. A lifted, fragrant, harmonious blend of fruit, oak (American, of course) and finely pitched tannins. Faultless. It's all relative, but this is starting to relax its grip. And the length is very, very special.

  • 99p

Lustrous and perfumed, with an arrestingly pure and heady bouquet of translucently clear dark plums, blackberries, cassis and dark cherries overlying notes of dark chocolates, bouquet of garni, roasting meats and cedar. It’s both sumptuous and stylish; an artfully modern shiraz whose explosively flavoured, sour-edged fruit suggests the meaty, five spice and deeply layered qualities of old Puer tea. Extending with exceptional drive and shape over a firmish spine of fine, crunchy tannins, it’s artfully balanced, wrapped in a lively acidity and set for the long haul. Reminiscent of the exceptional Granges from 1991 and 1994.
 
19.2/20, 97/100, drink 2045-2045+

  • 97p

98% Shiraz, 2% Cabernet Sauvignon from Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Clare Valley, Magill Estate. TA 6.7 g/l, pH 3.62. 20 months in new American oak hogsheads. Across South Australia’s premium growing regions, winter and early spring rainfall were close to the long-term average. From August, conditions became significantly drier with only a few light spring showers recorded. Record low rainfall was recorded from September to March, stretching water supplies. Warm and dry conditions encouraged early flowering and fruit-set, with rapid canopy growth. Early summer temperatures dropped below average with no major heat waves recorded. Once harvest commenced, it progressed rapidly with most blocks of Shiraz picked earlier than previous years. Although the prevailing conditions resulted in lower than anticipated yields, the quality of fruit was exceptional.
Very deep, blackish purplish crimson. Heady black fruits on the nose. Lots of sweetness on the nose – quite a different animal from the other wines in this Collection. More like Ye Olde Australia. Now heading for vintage rather than Grange recipe. This is rich and medicinal. Chewy end. Dry finish but almost overwhelmed by the sheer volume beforehand.

14.5%

  • 95.5p

Deep ruby. Rich, deep, nuanced, dark fruity, blueberries and blackberries in layers with liquorice, some pepper, eucalyptus notes behind, almost floral on top. Precise. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, anise, dark fruits, spices, liquorice, intense, layered and detailed, focused and bright yet dense and rich, superbly complex and stunning length. 99

  • 99p

Deep crimson. Intense blackberry, mulberry aromas with meaty roasted chestnut, vanilla malt notes. Classic Grange with inky blackberry mulberry fruits, dense chocolaty tannins, roasted chestnut, vanilla mocha oak complexity, a touch of crème brulée, superb mid palate richness, velvety tannins building to a firm chocolaty plume at the finish. All the elements are perfectly aligned. A Classic Great Grange with superb colour, density and tannin quality. A wonderful wine of huge presence and palate impact. Should outlive us all. A collector’s vintage.

  • 100p
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Information

Origin

Magill, South Australia

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Inside Information

“Vineyards used in the 2015 Grange have been well-tested. Many have toiled for decades, some well over a century. Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Clare Valley & Magill parentage – not by accident!”

“Crafted to the original 1951 blueprint”

- Peter Gago, Penfolds Chief Winemaker

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